According to Schleiermacher, true religion consists exclusively in devout states of consciousness and feeling. According to Bavinck, Schleiermacher’s very premise is philosophically untenable. Religious feeling necessitates an object from which that feeling derives its significance. Therefore, not every state of consciousness and feeling is religious in nature, but only those that are triggered by a unique metaphysical force. Bavinck then concludes that religious feeling plays a penultimate role in pointing back to the ultimacy of a more transcendent reality, which gives the feeling a uniquely religious quality. Consequently, religious feeling can never be severed from the domain of metaphysics.
Faith rests upon knowledge and knowledge arouses trust. Faith, knowledge, and trust all pre-suppose a certain conception of God, and conceptions of God rest upon metaphysical premises, the very thing Schleiermacher wished to banish from his religious system.
